Dancing Barefoot
by AZillionLittleStars
Summary: While most girls who were alone on prom night didn't have a date; Annabeth had a date, hers was just missing. :: A drabble written for the Thicker Than Blood challenge.


Malcolm's hand felt heavy carrying the dinner plate.

It was a good thing it was magical, because the food would have turned cold twenty minutes ago. Malcolm had wandered around the camp looking for Annabeth, when she skipped dinner for the fourth day in a row. He checked in Cabin 9, where she was usually obsessing over the Argo II. He checked by the canoe lake; where she sometimes would stare aimlessly at the lake, like that would bring Percy back. He looked in the practice arena; where she would stab a dummy in frustration, until the only thing she had the energy to do was lay on the ground and stare at the sky. So when he went back to the Athena cabin in defeat, he most certainly did not expect to find her there.

Everyone else was at the Friday night campfire, leaving Malcolm and Annabeth the only ones in the cabin. Something was different tonight, though. Instead of her usual attire of wearing jeans with holes in the knees and a sweatshirt everyone knew she stole out of the Poseidon cabin; she was wearing a dress. The dress was a light blue, and cascaded to the floor. It looked like Aphrodite herself had made the dress for Annabeth. Along with the dress, her hair was done in a simple side...thing. (Malcolm always made a special effort to avoid Aphrodite children.)

It took longer than expected from a child of Athena, for Malcolm to understand what was going on. He flashbacked to November, when Annabeth had orginally showed him the dress.

* * *

_"What's the dress for?" Malcolm asked, as Annabeth hugged the piece of clothing closer to her body. Annabeth blushed, and hastily laid out the dress on her bed._

_"Prom." She replied, pulling out a trunk from underneath her bunk. Malcolm raised his eyebrows._

_"Isn't prom in like...May?" Malcolm asked. He was a year-round camper, and prom was not an event that usually took place at Camp Half-Blood. (Chiron thought it just wouldn't fit in the schedule after sword training._

_"Yes." Annabeth confirmed, methodically folding the dress to the trunk._

_"But-" Malcolm started. Why would you by a dress seven months early?_

_"Don't question it, Malcolm." Annabeth instructed, sliding the trunk under her bed like nothing had even happened._

* * *

Annabeth had yet to acknowledge his presence, so he sat next to her.

Malcolm and Annabeth had always had an interesting sibling relationship. Malcolm was technically three months older than Annabeth, but she had always taken the role of being the superior sibling. Malcolm didn't mind; second-in-command was plenty fulfilling for him. Nowadays; Annabeth had been falling apart, and the tables turned.

Appearances had changed, as well. Malcolm was no longer as scrawny. Annabeth was now shorter than him, which he loved to poke at her.

"Hey." He wasn't expecting an answer; he rarely got one anymore.

Annabeth leaned her head on his shoulder, and that was more than enough for him.

"I just...I just thought that maybe..." Annabeth's whispers died.

Malcolm was never a talker; and frankly, he had no idea what he was supposed to do with the mess of his sister's love life. So he did possibly the only thing he had ever learned from his deadbeat mother; how to waltz.

"Come on."

Annabeth blinked. Once, twice. Her tired gray eyes looked up at him with subtle confusion. However, she took his outstretched hand.

And waltz they did.

There was no music, and neither of them had shoes on. But they took no mind, and continued to dance barefoot around the Athena cabin.

It wasn't until Annabeth's head rested upon his shoulder again that he realized she was crying. It was quiet crying, the oppisite of hysterical sobs.

"Hey." He said. "It's okay. We're going to get him back."

"What if we don't?" Annabeth responded. "What if we-"

"You think too much." Malcolm interjected.

Annabeth scoffed, which made Malcolm smile.

"You should sleep."

"Don't tell me what to do, Mister. I can still put you on dish duty."

"Abuse of power." Malcolm shot back, releasing her hands. "You coming to the campfire?" It was a long shot, but _hey_, anything could happen when you're a half-blood.

"Mhm. I think I'll just read my book." Annabeth responded, already throwing the blankets on top of herself.

"_A Complete History of Egyptian Architecture and Beyond_?" Malcolm read off the cover. "You are such nerd."

He would never admit it, but that was secretly one of his favorite things about Annabeth- no matter how mad or upset she was, some book full of architectural knowledge that know one else in the world wants to know, suddenly seemed to make it better. She was strange like that.

"Go make sure Drew and Piper killing each other." Annabeth instructed, never looking up from her book. So, she was back to bossing him around.

At least some things never changed.

* * *

_Whilst everyone else was utterly confused during the sibling dance at Annabeth's wedding, only Malcolm and Annabeth understood the point of taking off their shoes and **dancing barefoot**._

* * *

**FINISH**!

**Disclaimer**: I don't own Percy Jackson or any affiliated. I also do not own anything you can recognize.

**Challenge**: Thicker Than Blood by The Inked Pen.

_Review_?


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